by H G Lynch
*****
Eventually, Reid gathered himself together…if only enough to follow her outside to the parking lot. Ember had the sneaking suspicion that he would’ve followed her off a cliff while she was wearing this outfit. She was surprised, though, when Reid started walking, not toward his car, but to the other end of the parking lot.
Confused, she frowned after him. “Reid, where are you going? I hope you’re not planning on walking to the party,” she said. There was no way she was walking to the party in these heels. She’d break an ankle. But Reid just tossed her a grin over his shoulder and beckoned her after him mysteriously. He had something planned, she could tell, and she was instantly anxious. Sometimes the things Reid planned could be fantastic, and sometimes, his surprises were somewhere in the realm of insanity. Swimming in a lake in January was damn near cautious compared to some of the things he’d suggested in the last couple of months. Ember secretly wondered if he was testing how far she would go, how far he could push her faith in her immortality. Other times, she just thought he was crazy. A sneaking suspicion told her both theories were true.
So, with a half-exasperated, half-amused sigh, she followed him across the parking lot, her heels clinking on the frigid concrete. If she’d been human, she would’ve been freezing in her leather waistcoat and V-necked red t-shirt. As it was, she barely got goose-bumps. Her hair swirled around her face in the bitter wind, and she impatiently tucked it behind her ears, scowling after Reid. He had paused near a tree at the edge of the far end of the parking lot, and he was gazing into the shadow beyond. Whatever he was looking at, Ember couldn’t see it clearly from this distance, not in the dark of the winter evening.
Turning, Reid leaned casually against the trunk of a tree, blocking the mystery from her view for good. There was that dangerous look on his face, the one that made her insides melt and her blood boil. His fair hair whipped into unruly tangles around his pretty face, his blue eyes all but glowing with excitement in the shadows. Ember strode right up to him and gave him an expectant look, which he returned with a half-smirk. He stepped aside, gesturing grandly for her to take look into the abyss behind the tree. Cautiously, she leaned around him and, finally, the mystery came into view.
Her eyebrows shot up and her lips parted. Admittedly, she should’ve seen this coming really. She wasn’t going to ask how, where or when he got it, knowing the only important question was, was that how they were getting to the party?
“Oh, good lord. You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” she muttered, mostly to herself.
Reid chuckled, tugged on a lock of her hair.
The shiny motorcycle, propped up amidst the wet foliage and rotting trees and dying remains of the last snowfall, was a sleek beast with a silver and black coat. It glinted in the faint light filtering through the pine branches. There was something alive about it, something that issued a challenge without words.
“Nope, I couldn’t resist. And come on, how rock-god-awesome am I going to look showing up to that party on this bike, with my leather-clad, smoking hot girlfriend on the back?” Reid laughed, and Ember caught a glimpse of his fangs, fully extended. His blue eyes were bright as stars. Yeah, this was the level of excitement that only a hot girl and a hotter motorcycle could bring to a guy. And he was right; He was going to look like insanely hot – like supernova hot – on that bike.
“You are out of your mind.” And she was stupid for not having foreseen this. She should’ve guessed, after his episode with the motorbike in Ellon, that he’d go right on and buy one for himself. The boy was addicted to anything dangerous, and if it upped his sex-appeal – He was going to have to stop somewhere, she noted. There had to be an apex at which he could not possibly get any hotter – all the better. “But,” she added, “since I’m in my biker-chick gear, I’m not going to fuss.”
Reid beamed. “There’s my girl!” He briefly linked her fingers through his and lifted her hand to his lips, placing a light kiss on the back of her knuckles. It was a little thing, but it still made sparks shoot up her arm from her hands. Surely, eventually, he’d stop having that effect on her. She kind of hoped not though.
Reid hopped onto the bike, and Ember, reluctantly, slid on behind him. He reached back took her hands, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She leaned her forehead against his back and muttered, “You’re the devil incarnate, you know that, right?”
At that, he laughed. Then he stuck the key in the ignition and revved the bike, tossing her a glance over his shoulder.
“If I’m the devil, doesn’t that make you Persephone?”
“I think you’ve got your mythologies mixed. Hades and Persephone are Greek mythology. The devil is Christian. The two don’t coincide.” She didn’t know why she bothered telling him that. She knew he knew it really, and she also knew he didn’t care.
“You’re a walking encyclopedia.”
“So? Better than being Hades.”
“Sure about that?”
“…No. Now can we just go to the damned party before I decide to cast a circle and summon Lucifer himself to suck me down into the sixth circle of hell.” She paused, then added, “For the record, I’m classifying this party as the seventh circle.”
“Party it is. Hang on tight, Firefly.”
*****
The party was in full swing when they wandered into the rusty old farmhouse. As soon as they stepped through the door, they were surrounded by loud, drunken teens. Couples were tangled together against the walls, making out on the rickety staircase, groping each other as they danced in the main room. Someone had even brought in strobe lights and big stereo speakers. The music was loud and pulsing, the sound waves jarring through Ember’s ribs.
It was dark and musty, stifling with the heat and scent of dozens of sweaty bodies. People were writhing, gyrating against each other, dressed in scraps of bright clothing; girls in skin-tight dresses and high heels that could take someone’s eye out, the guys wearing their coolest t-shirts and sleazy, ‘chick-magnet’ smiles. Cyan blue, lime green and blood red flashes pierced the dimness, illuminating the make-shift dance floor for split seconds at a time.
Ember couldn’t see Sherry or Ricky or even Brandon amongst the wriggling crowd. She linked her fingers tightly through Reid’s and tried to relax. Reid squeezed her hand and grinned down at her, his face splashed with color from the strobe lights.
“Smile, Emz. It’s a party,” he murmured quietly, and she just barely heard him over the music. She stuck her tongue out at him and he spun her round, making her stumble in her high heels. Some girl knocked into her, spilling her drink, and Ember almost apologised. The girl didn’t give her the chance before she flipped her badly dyed, platinum blonde hair and slurred some insult at her. Ember giggled as the girl tried to walk off and ended up wobbling into the wall.
“There we go, a smile. Think of it this way; all night, you get to watch stupid sluts walking into things and falling over,” Reid chuckled, slinging an arm around her waist and pulling her along with him through the swarming bodies. They slid between the dancers, getting jostled and nudged and elbowed. Someone handed Ember a plastic cup full of blue liquid and she pulled a face, scrunching her nose. The smell of alcohol and sugar mingled with the scents of sweat and dust and adrenalin.
Seeing her expression, Reid laughed and leaned down to speak in her ear. “It’s just a drink, Emz. Alcohol, not poison. Take a sip and relax for God’s sake.”
“You just want to get me drunk, don’t you?” she teased, prodding him in the arm.
He lowered his lashes so his eyes, bright sapphire in the dimness, smoldered at her. “If it means I have a chance of peeling you out of that leather later, sure.”
“Do you ever stop thinking about sex?” She grinned, lifting the plastic cup to her lips and taking a swig of the sweet, blue liquid. It tasted like raspberries and methanol. They were standing at the edge of the dancing crowd, the music pounding around them. The music sucked. Some techno beat that hurt her e
ars. Lights flashed across the ceiling, lighting the cobwebs and disturbing the poor spiders.
“Hey, you’re the one who decided to wear the most provocative outfit you own. I think you’re the one with sex on the brain tonight.” Reid made a show of admiring her outfit, and she watched his pupils dilate as predictable thoughts passed across his mind.
She rolled her eyes at him and took another swig of whatever was in the plastic cup. Some guy bumped into her from behind and all but shouted in her ear a vile unrepeatable comment, and then slapped her ass. She squealed and jumped closer to Reid, grabbing the front of his t-shirt. The random guy laughed drunkenly and clapped Reid on the shoulder before moving off to chat up another girl in a pink halter-top.
“This,” Ember said distinctly, “is why I hate parties.”
Reid toyed with a lock of her hair, looped a protective arm around her waist. Even through the haze of scents, of perfumes and colognes and pheromones, she could still smell his natural spiced-apple scent. She breathed it in. Relaxing, she downed the rest of her drink and grinned at him. He grinned back, his fangs glinting in the erratic lighting.
Then their moment was interrupted when a girl with brown hair and a drink in hand sauntered up to Reid and, ignoring Ember, plastered herself to his other side. The girl was tall and curvy, spilling out of her itty bitty tube-top. She smiled brightly at Reid, who pulled a face of disdain.
“Hey there, Reid. How ‘bout you and me take a trip to one of the bedrooms upstairs?” The girl tossed her brown hair and ran her painted fingernails down his chest seductively. Ember scowled and felt her fingers prickle with heat. Very deliberately, she stepped forward and, putting her fingertips on Reid’s jaw, turned his face toward her and kissed him hard. She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Reid, surprised, took a moment to respond.
Slowly, Ember pulled away and turned a vicious smirk on the other girl, who glared back before scoffing and striding huffily away. Ember grinned, figuring she’d made her point successfully.
“I think she got the message, don’t you?” she said, taking another offered glass of blue liquid.
She downed it all in one go and Reid watched her with wide, dark eyes. He looked stunned, with his eyebrows raised into his scruffy blonde hair. Amused, suddenly feeling powerful, she gave him her most saucy smile and very innocently backed away into the throng of writhing dancers. As if transfixed, he followed her, keeping his eyes locked on hers. And then he was intercepted by another female, this one another blonde, dressed in a denim miniskirt and what appeared to be a bikini top.
Reluctantly, Reid tore his eyes from Ember and blinked down at the girl in bewilderment, as if he had no idea what she thought she was doing with her hands sliding under his t-shirt. Halting, Ember set her jaw and curled her fingers into fists, watching as the girl called over one of her friends and they both began touching him and trying to kiss him. Over the sound of the shouting teens and beating music and drunken laughter, Ember listened to what the slutty girls were saying.
“…remember that party at Brian’s? We had some fun then, didn’t we? We could have that kind of fun again, Reid.” Bikini chick was giggling.
“If you want, we could all have that kind of fun,” the other girl said suggestively, rubbing her leg against Reid’s.
He looked uncomfortable, trying to remove Bikini chick’s hands from his belt. A couple of guys from the football team stepped in front of Ember, blocking her view. One of the guys glanced at her, put a hand on his buddy’s arm to stop him and muttered something in his ear. Ember didn’t hear what it was because she was still focused on trying to hear what those girls were saying to her boyfriend. But then the guys, both easily a foot taller than her and built like boxers, turned to her and laughed, looking her over in a way that made her skin crawl. She grimaced, scoffed at them and tried to move around them, but the dark-haired one held out his arm to stop her.
He leaned down, putting his mouth to her ear. “I know you. You’re Reid’s gal. Where’s your boyfriend tonight, honey?” he slurred, clumsily rubbing her back.
His friend moved to her other side and reached out to stroke her hair. She jerked away but the dark-haired one grabbed her arm. “Where you think you’re going, sugar? We’ll take care of you till your boyfriend comes back. We’ll take real good care of you. In fact, if you want, we could…” Then he said something that made Ember’s stomach turn over, and licked her ear slowly. Disgusted, she yanked her arm back and slapped him across the face. Unfortunately for the stupid footballer, her hand connected with his cheek and sizzled. He cried out in pain and his friend yelled, moved to shove her, and Ember bared her fangs at him, hissing. His eyes widened and he stumbled backward, turned and ran into the crowd. The dark-haired guy, clutching his face and grunting, followed suit.
By the time she spotted Reid again, the two girls she’d left him with were gone, only to be replaced by three more – and one of those three was Lia. That really made Ember’s blood boil. The green-haired girl was busy laughing outrageously, leaning forward to give Reid a good view of her overflowing from her neon pink and green corset top. In high heels, she was as tall as he was, and she was clearly enjoying being right on level to kiss him. The thing that really made Ember angry, though, was the fact that Reid, while dismissing all the other girls, was happily chatting away with Lia as she flirted with him. Even when she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, he just prodded her away good-naturedly and kept smiling.
With a serious green monster sitting on her shoulder, Ember turned and walked away in the other direction, heading for the door, when she recognized the song that came on over the blaring speakers. Apparently someone had finally found the good music, because some pounding song by My Darkest Days slammed through the little, run-down house. Ember paused, an idea forming in her head, a dark smirk spreading poisonously across her lips. Oh, she couldn’t pass up this opportunity. She was already tipsy, which she knew because she never would have considered this plan unless there was something lowering her inhibitions.
As it was, she grabbed another drink from some girl’s hand – the liquid in this one was red, reminding her, with savage amusement, of blood – and drank it down recklessly. Then she strode into the center of the dance floor and started dancing. Normally, she never danced. Ever. Not at school-organized dances, not at parties, not at ceilidhs, not at weddings. Never. But tonight, she was tipsy and angry and feeling…wild. Maybe it was the music, or the alcohol, or the outfit she was wearing, or a combination of all three, but she felt like she could take on the world or watch it all burn down around her.
So, she ignored the staring and murmurs, and simply danced, closing her eyes and letting the music take her over. It felt so, so good. Even when the track changed to a Papa Roach song, she just adjusted her moves a little and kept going.
*****
** Reid **
Having ditched Lia, Reid was wandering the edges of the party, looking for Ember, having to dodge the groping fingers of just about every girl he passed. Once upon a time, he’d loved it, being at the top of every girl’s to-do list, having them fighting over him, throwing themselves at him. Now, it was just annoying.
With an internal sigh, he leapt over a couple squirming together on the floor and didn’t dare cast them a closer glance. Ahead of him, a few drunk guys from the football team were kicking at the metal door to the meeting den, and Reid muttered a few nasty things before sliding neatly between the door and the tallest guy’s next kick. The idiot’s foot nearly collided with Reid’s leg, but just missed by a centimeter, which was lucky for the footballer. Reid had started fights over less at these kinds of parties, and everybody knew it. The guy stumbled back and glared at him.
“Hey, whatcha think you’re doin’, huh? We’re tryin’ a get in there!” he slurred drunkenly, and his buddies murmured in agreement. Reid leaned back casually against the door and arched a brow, crossing his ankles. He didn’t bother to hide the smirk curling his lips, enjoyin
g the furious, incredulous expressions on their faces.
“Dude, get outta the way! We just wanna bust in the door. Come on, help us, and we’ll go see what’s down there.” Another of the guys grinned. This one was shorter than Reid, and much more heavily muscled. Not that that mattered, of course. The third guy was hanging back, the skinniest of the bunch. All three were dressed in jeans and football shirts. Idiots. That was one of many things that really bugged Reid about the football team; they had no individuality. They were almost as bad as the girls with their matching handbags and headbands.
Very deliberately, Reid lifted one gloved hand and wiggled his fingers in a mocking ‘come and get me’ gesture. He tipped his head down slightly so he was looking up at them through his hair, his face in shadow. It was a technique he’d perfected to terrify opponents when he couldn’t be bothered fighting them. The way his eyes shone in shadow was sinister enough to make the guys back off. They muttered some insults at him as they lurched away, but Reid only heard something about ‘tosser’ and ‘pussy’, and he doubted they were talking about fluffy little kittens.
He grinned darkly. It was so much fun making big sports guys back down like that. He imagined it’d be just as fun to watch; a slender, pretty blond boy sending strapping, over-muscled morons fleeing without even a word. Yeah. That’d be pretty damn funny.
If only Ember had seen that, he thought, remembering what he’d been doing before he’d gotten distracted by those idiots. He looked around, trying to spot a familiar flash of blonde hair or black leather tucked safely away in a corner somewhere. It was nearly impossible to find Emz in a crowd like this, simply because she was so small. It was like trying to find a toddler in a shopping center.